I hope that these photos will interest you, and perhaps even stimulate you to travel to these regions. In which case, I present a few websites that I have found of interest. None of them are sponsors; they reflect my own views and thoughts. Should you decide to travel, I should like to take this opportunity to encourage you to travel lightly - as the saying goes: 'take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints'. Many of these places are either just opening up to the west, beginning to develop their economies in the western style, or now suffering hugely from having done so. If we can avoid adding to their problems, then so much the better for all.
For those who wish to travel the world by train, rather than the ubiquitous and polluting aircraft, this website, written by A Man Who Knows is essential: www.seat61.com
Aviation fuel is untaxed, to encourage us all to use aircraft, (one of the reasons why flight companies can offer these ridiculously low loss-leader flights, such as �0.01 London to Dublin), If you do travel by aircraft, consider paying a voluntary 'environmental tax' to an organization that plants trees (to offset the carbon emissions from aircraft) or supports research into renewable and clean energy projects that reduce CO2 emissions. Two such organizations are The Carbon Neutral Company www.carbonneutral.com and Climate Care www.jpmorganclimatecare.com.
International Society for Ecology and Culture: A small international organisation which seeks to promote sustainability and community regeneration throughout the world. Amongst the projects funded and promoted by them are the Ladakh Project, which has now for some 25 years been undertaking a wide-ranging program aimed at exploring alternatives to conventional development. They also publish a video/DVD based on the outstanding book 'Ancient Futures' by Helena Norberg-Hodge, showing starkly the contrast between traditional and 'developed' Ladakh. A must-see for anyone contemplating going to the region or even just interested: www.isec.org.uk
Travel at high Altitude: Above approximately 8-9000ft (2500m) there is a danger of Acute Mountain Sickness, or AMS, which can kill if not recognised and dealt with properly in time. Many other medical conditions can occur or worsen at altitude and it is no more than basic common sense to be prepared for these situations. MEDEX (Medical Expeditions) have prepared an excellent booklet on the subject just the right size to slip into a pocket when travelling. Download it for free at www.medex.org.uk and help keep yourself or someone else alive.
The website for the Tibetan Government in exile and the official site for the Dalai Lama: www.tibet.com
Practical Action, formerly the Intermediate Technology Development Group: http://practicalaction.org Practical Action works with poor communities to help them choose and use technology to improve their lives for today and generations to come. As they put it, simple solutions, from micro-hydro power in Kenya to flood-protection in Nepal, and smoke hoods to reduce indoor air pollution. They use simple, low tech, environmentally friendly technology to help people fight their way out of poverty.
The Nepal Trust: http://www.nepaltrust.org 'The Nepal Trust provides integrated rural development in the far North West of Nepal.
Our main objective is to help create community projects that emphasize
local participation and responsibility and give hope to the people of
this very remote and impoverished area, where every day is a struggle
for survival.'
Fairtrade goods. http://www.fairtrade.org.uk Wherever possible, please buy goods with the official Fairtrade mark on them. The growers / makers will have got a reasonable deal for their products and not been ripped off, unlike so many in the developing world.
Oxfam. When there is a disaster, such as the Kashmir earthquake, they are there. They are the difference between life and death to many people.Please support their work. www.oxfam.org.uk
Excerpt from my diary, Delhi, 23rd
February, 2004:
'I am in a relatively poor country
that has a reputation for hassling the hell out of all westerners. Yet I have been
unfailingly met with courtesy, small kindnesses and friendliness. An absolutely
tiny proportion of the population try fairly hard to sell you things, but
almost invariably quit politely when you show that you are not interested. If the
roles were reversed they would get an infinitely more aggressive and unfriendly
reception in UK.'
Books on India
My own recommendations and full, I'm sure, of gaps and prejudices. There must be a host of great books on these places out there that I've never read or even heard of. You are invited, of course, to draw my attention to these!
First and foremost, the Lonely Planet Guide to India. A hefty great tome, but packed with as much info as the independent traveller is likely to need. Ever since I began travelling and discovered the Lonely Planet series, I have found them to be virtually indispensable. Other publications may give you slightly more detail on the sights and culture, but LP are streets ahead of any of their rivals for the information that most independent travellers buy their books for - getting about and places to stay and eat. I feel that I can arrive in an unknown city at dusk and be confident of finding food and shelter with one of their guides in my pocket. They are amazingly well researched, partly through their policy of inviting contributions from everyone that uses the guides and notices changes, finds something new, etc.
Admittedly, the India guide is huge, but I deal with that by deciding which sections I won't be needing on a trip and then using razor blade and sellotape to create my new slimmed-down version. I don't think LP would endorse this.
They also have a very useful website: www.lonelyplanet.com with updated information and tools such as their 'travelsafe', where you are invited to store copies of visa, insurance documents, etc, should you need them in an emergency on your trip. Personally, I simply copy these to a separate folder in my email - it somehow seems a little easier.
William Dalrymple lived in Delhi for four years and has written several superb and readable books about India. City of Djinns describes a year in Delhi, both the everyday hassles and the splendid array of people he encounters, from the eccentric to the downright unhinged. The Age of Kali deals with the changes in modern India and their repercussions on all who live there. Frequently disturbing and dark. The Last Mughal describes the Indian Mutiny from both the Indian and the British perspectives, showing the horrific barbarities perpetrated by both sides as well as the misunderstandings and stupidities that led up to it in the first place. The most remarkable thing about the intertwined histories of India and Britain, having gone through these ghastly episodes, is that there is still so much goodwill and friendship between their peoples.
One of the reasons for this continuing goodwill must be the influences of one Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi. Determined to eject the British from India, but using peaceful means, his campaign of passive resistance is well known and documented in countless books. My favourite is by William Shirer, an American reporter who knew Ghandi well in India and wrote a highly readable book on his subject.
Dalrymple's writing bears more than a passing resemblance to Mark Tully's. Tully was born in Calcutta, educated in England and has lived for most of his life in India. I think his two best known books are No Full Stops in India and India in Slow Motion. Both deal with the phenomenon that is modern India with its clashes of castes and cultures, its festivals and marriages, its poverty and its corruption. The first concentrates particularly on what Tully calls the New Colonialism, the educated Indian elite who act in some ways much as the old colonial rulers did, and the second explores further the undercurrents that seem to underlie the simplest of events there.
India, A Million Mutinies Now, by V S Naipaul is another book describing how the modern India has grown from and out of colonial India. Again, all the discrepancies and animosities are described and mulled over in a very readable tome.
Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy. The tale of a bicycle ride from Dunkirk to Delhi. Compulsory reading. That's all you need to know.
The
Great Hedge of India
by Roy Moxham. In the middle of the
nineteenth century, the British built a great hedge across India, to allow the
collection of the hated salt tax. Over 4 metres in height and comprising
various thorny bushes and trees it stretched for 2,300 miles and was manned by
12,000 men. Yet who has heard of it today? A chance discovery in a second hand
bookshop set Roy Moxham off on a remarkable quest to see if any remnant of it
was left today.
Fallen Cicadas by Barun Roy is the story of Darjeeling. It seems to be only available in India, but is an exhaustive account of the history of Darjeeling, with some endearingly faded photographs from the Raj era. The sort of pictures that you squint at and then exclaim 'Good heavens! That must be so-and-so street!' Great to browse through, even if all the dates and names leave you a little dazed.
Sikkim by Sujoy Das and Arundhati Ray (not to be confused with the author of 'The God of Small Things') is a good introduction and guide to the state, with some beautiful colour pictures. Again, I don't think that this is available outside of India.
Ancient Futures by Helena Norberg-Hodge. Already mentioned above, this book is what amounts to a long essay on the culture, history, peoples and development of Ladakh. Helena Norberg-Hodge was one of the first people to travel to Ladakh when it opened up in the 1970's, where she learned to speak the language and got to know the people as few outsiders have ever done before or since. Returning regularly each year for six months at a time, she watched as Ladakh began to 'develop' a Westernised society at the expense of its own centuries-old sophisticated rural culture. And watched in what amounts to horror. This book charts the so-called progress made by Western ideas there, and how much is being done to halt the worst excesses by careful encouragement of traditional means of farming and living by the Ladakhis themselves. Both depressing and inspiring, this is by any measure an outstanding book.
A Journey in Ladakh by Andrew Harvey. In 1981 Andrew Harvey travelled to Ladakh in order to study the Tibetan Buddhist society there. He found a fascinating community of gentle people beginning to collide with Western values but retaining a deep, sincere belief in their Buddhist culture. Part spiritual journey, part guide to Ladakh, this book has been a favourite of mine for fifteen years and the dog-eared, tatty copy on my bookshelf was a major reason for my travelling there myself.
In a somewhat different vein, Arundhati Roy is best known as author of the novel The God of Small Things. The Algebra of Infinite Justice, however, is a collection of essays political, ecological and sociological. They get deep under the skin of modern India and, indeed, have got under the skin of many Indian politicians. Splendid Analyses By Angry Woman.
And speaking of books sociological, May You be the Mother of a Hundred Sons by Elisabeth Bumiller is a study of the roles, conditions and lives in general of women of all walks of life in India. Throughout the world and throughout history, women have frequently been discriminated against, victimised and abused by men and the social system in place in their world. In many places they are still routinely bought and sold, denied education, jobs and even healthcare, hidden from the world and defined as essentially evil (although used happily enough by men for pleasure and to produce (preferably male) children). Women in modern India are, unfortunately, still the victims of their system (and when I say victims, I really mean that) despite supposedly being emancipated by Independence. In the 21st Century it is an absolute disgrace that women in any part of the world should still be considered 2nd class citizens, never mind being victimised in the numbers and dreadful ways that they are. All men should be forced to read this book.
Out of print now, I have a copy of The Hard Way to India by John Seymour, the story of an overland trip from Britain to India somewhere around 1950. The author travels by train, bus, horse, moth, whatever, through Europe, what was then Persia, Iraq, etc, in four months or so. While it is not in the Peter Fleming league of overland travel in Asia, it is a great read - everyone being 'chaps' or 'fellows', self-deprecation and lots of stoicism in the face of hardship. This was the first of many books that Seymour wrote, many promoting self-sufficiency, caring for the Earth and arguing against consumerism and industrialisation. Stout fellow.
Books on Nepal
Again, Lonely Planet have, in my humble opinion, the best guides to the country. Nepal is everything that you expect a LP guide to be, scoring especially high, as usual, for the transport, accommodation and nosh information. It concentrates mainly on the central (Kathmandu) valley, Pokhara and the Terai, including Chitwan National Park. For the mountains themselves, with the trekking information, you need their Trekking in the Nepal Himalaya guide. The information is excellent and extensive, and you could even undertake a trek using just their sketch maps.
The only book that could touch Lonely Planet in this area is Trekking in Nepal by Stephen Bezruchka. The trek instructions are not quite so detailed (although I do not have the latest edition of the book, and this may have been updated), but the rest of the book is an incomparable wealth of information on everything that the traveller will need to know from health and languages through to culture, trip preparations and ecological considerations, all covered in incredible depth.
The incomparable Dervla Murphy wrote about a visit to Nepal in 1965, a time when it was still a comparatively remote, un-westernised place, in The Waiting Land. As one would expect from Dervla Murphy, the book is full of explorations, misadventure and astute observation. Having spent time there amongst Tibetan refugees in 1963, she returned for a spell to help out again in a refugee camp desperately short of assistance. It is especially refreshing to read her balance between 'Tibetan worshipping' (as she herself puts it) and realistic admiration at their fortitude and acknowledgement of the many faults of so many that she meets. At every turn of the page, you can feel the squalor or the magnificence of the scene that she describes.
John Morris wrote A Winter in Nepal about his journey there in 1960. Not very long before Dervla Murphy's visits, but undertaken when Nepal was rarely visited by outsiders. As a British Officer with a Ghurkha regiment, he had found himself on a couple of exceedingly rare visits to Kathmandu between the wars, which he describes at the beginning of the book and gives a good potted history of the country as well. In the main part of the book he simply recounts his main trip in very readable fashion, giving a vivid picture of everyday life in Nepal forty five years ago.
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen is a classic of travel writing. On the surface it is a trip to observe wild sheep in remote Western Nepal, but is far deeper than that. Full of beautiful descriptions of the mountains, people and places of Nepal, plus the inner explorations of a man searching for something to fill a void in his soul and an almost obsessive search for the rare and shy snow leopard. If you were to set up a check-point in the Nepalese Himalaya and search all trekkers passing through, you would probably find that at least fifty percent of them had a copy of this book in their backpacks.
The Windhorse by Elaine Brook and Julie Donnelly is the story of a trek by two women to the top of Kala Patthar, a 'minor' Himalayan peak a little higher than Everest Base Camp, at 18,000ft. It describes with great honesty their friendship and fallings-out and the tremendous struggle to achieve their goal. Why the struggle? Julie is blind! I read this whilst in Ladakh last year, and felt ashamed at even contemplating my journeys as difficult.
Storms of Silence, by Joe Simpson (of Touching the Void fame) is a book in two parts. The second part is about a climbing trip to South America, but the first, and main, part of the book is about a climbing expedition to Nepal. In this, Joe talks passionately about the awful fate of the Tibetan people under the Chinese since the invasion and annexation of their country in 1950. Meeting many Tibetans on his travels there, he describes some of the horrors that have been inflicted on them, horrors that amount to genocide, whilst the outside world sat back and did nothing. In the years since the invasion, literally millions of Tibetans have been tortured and murdered and their ancient Buddhist culture destroyed. Had Tibet been full of oil, I dare say that the western powers might have responded...
